Arnie Newman's Country Club Band and I played a cute little watering hole last Friday, Canyon Cowboy in Canyon Lakes near Lake Elsinore. I didn't bother to get a commute picture because it was already dark by the time I left for the venue, just about an hour away. When I arrived there were a couple of singer/songwriters on stage singing a mixture of originals and covers. They were pretty good, Steve and Jeff.
They were scheduled to play until 8:30pm at which time we'd load in, sound check, and hopefully start at 9:30. We were glad to find out that the owner wanted us to play only three sets until 12:30, instead of four sets. So we got comfortable and took advantage of the venue's hospitality. John is enjoying a Shock Top with our friend Wayne. Wayne is a good friend of the band and brought his whole family out tonight. We played at his youngest daughter's graduation party last year.
For supper I enjoyed the 8 oz. Saloon Burger and a nice stout called 'Santa's D.U.I.' from a brewery just down the road, Mason Jar Brewery.
The acoustic guys finished their show and it was time to do our setup dance. Access to the stage is rather limited and we had a short amount of time but we danced fast and made it work.
It's a pretty good sized stage for a small-ish club but there's no stage door. There is a ramp on one side of the stage. We could not bring our gear across the dance floor to the stage because there were still tables in the way. They were moved later to make room for dancing. Next to Arnie and Amanda is Scott, our sound guy. It looks like he is thinking hard about what it's going to take to get us all plugged in.
All I needed was one little XLR cable to plug into the back of my amp. Oh yeah, and a microphone to sing with.
Johnny lets Scott know what is needed his monitor mix. Scott really did a terrific job for us. This room has a low ceiling and very little acoustical treatment so it was loud in there just from the rowdy crowd noise.
The lovely Amanda Kate joins the bass player for a pre-downbeat selfie.
Arnie brought his Little Walter combo and a few guitars.
I didn't check what gear was used for the mains (I seem to recall JBL) but the stage has powered Behringer monitors. Once Scott got mine EQ'd properly it sounded good.
Yes, that was a Mich Ultra beer sitting next to my monitor. Tammi was in tonight and bought the band a round. I'm not one to turn down free beer. The crowd was really having a good time. They were loud and rowdy, dancing all night long.
On a break I walked out front for some cool fresh air. This is the sign in front.
The entrance has a big patio. It had only a few people because it was rather chilly out this evening. The saloon is on the bottom floor of this strip mall full of shops and offices.
Here we are looking over Scott's shoulder at the FOH console. He also does double-duty as the DJ.
I took this picture through one of the back windows as I was getting some air on a break and getting out of all the noise. It was loud in there.
We finished up at 12:30am, played one encore, then proceeded along with the tear-down choreography.
You see the ramp there that leads up to the stage from the back door. That's the only egress when the dance floor is full and there are tables everywhere. It's a fun little rowdy place. We got supper, a bar tab, and pay that was a little better than most bars around here. I'm not going to complain.
Then I had to rush home because I was playing in church on Sunday morning. I made a joyful noise after only three hours of sleep. After church I took a nap followed by a few hours of rehearsal at Arnie's studio. It was a pretty busy weekend. This coming week will also be busy with a rehearsal on Tuesday, the debut Carrie Underwood tribute show on Wednesday, then Friday and Saturday at The Ranch. I'm thankful that I have a four day weekend because of Washington and Lincoln's birthdays. God bless America!
Thanks for looking at my gigs. Take care.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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